Is Jim Harbaugh going to the NFL?

It's not that hard to be a nice to be a good human being it isn't that difficult. So let's bring in One of the finest human beings that we have on this program chip Patterson cbsports.com cover three podcast my friend How are you sir? No, I'm doing well. I don't know who you were talking about You know, we're sitting over here trying to navigate cameras and connections But I feel I feel sorry for this person this man or woman that you're speaking about because it does not sound like they're carrying themselves As an upright citizen. No, it was we were discussing Aaron Rodgers and David Tepper That's uh, it's not that hard to be a good human being if you throw a drink on somebody wouldn't you say?

Hey, I was a dumb thing to do. I'm sorry Yeah, I mean if I throw a drink you deserve That's oh, you know what I believe you because there is there is history there Alright, so I said it was the end of an era And I could be talking about one of two things. Let's start with Jim Harbaugh Do you think it was the end of the Harbaugh era at Michigan? Monday night, I think that Jim Harbaugh Jim Harbaugh is this is not source reporting, but merely the a guest I think that Jim Harbaugh will not be the head coach of Michigan, but not at the risk of being too cute I think that what will follow will be a continuation of the Jim Harbaugh era. I think that what he has done Specifically since really bottoming out During that lost season in 2020 to rebuild the Wolverines Um smart staff hires, you know understanding evaluation understanding that you know while he got headlines early in his head coaching career for climbing up into trees on National Signing Day and and doing cute high school visits and sitting in history classes What became important to Michigan football and the reason why Michigan won a national championship was that he was able to identify?

Players who three years in the program would be all Americans and NFL draft picks Players who in the courting their high school recruiting rankings were high three stars low four stars ones who were getting overlooked By Alabama by Georgia and by Michigan's rival, Ohio State That is where this Michigan championship was born and when we think about you know, who would be that next head coach? Again, if we're just guessing I believe it would be Sharon Moore And I believe that Sharon Moore and the mentality of winning from the trenches out is something that can be sustained So yeah, I think that Jim Harbaugh for a multitude of reasons Will be not there for the season opener for Michigan and possibly in the NFL And I think that the Jim Harbaugh era because of what's happened over the last couple of seasons Will be able to continue because of the blueprint he's put in place for the program that he loved so much so here's I do want to just kind of drill down on this because It's very possible that there won't be Necessarily the right NFL gig for him this year Ward Manuel the Yesterday, I called him the general manager which is sort of the same The athletic director at Michigan says we want him back So is it do you think that even if he can't find the right NFL gig? Do you think he moves? Do you think he just takes a year off?

No, no, no. No, I I think he's DTF. I think he's down to find out Okay, that what's out there, you know, he's he is going to listen to everybody We are talking about a head coach who interviewed for the Minnesota Vikings on National Signing Day. Um, it's It is something that he is going to listen to and I think that right now The math that I am doing in my head is that the number of jobs that are available currently six there are Potentially, you know could be more it's going to create an environment and an atmosphere There will be an NFL organization that is willing to make an offer to Harbaugh Which would sway him because what I think what would sway Jim Harbaugh is not a money Number where Michigan I do think is prepared to back up the Brinks trust for him I think that it has to do with power. I think it has to do with personnel decisions I don't know if he would demand specifically to also get general manager duties, but he would want that kind of guarantee from an owner That I mean that was really his downfall The way that I understand it was butting heads with the front office of personnel said bulky, you know if Yeah, it's all of a sudden San Diego Las Vegas if these places are willing to hand over not just the head coaching position But some real personnel front office power as well Then I think that that is something that could entice him to go there's also just a matter of of reading the room and feeling this out right just the There's a common sense of how things go where you worked your way to this point You built Michigan up you beat Ohio State.

You won the Big Ten championship. You made it for the playoff You've made it to the playoff and then you won the dadgum thing the the best way to stop having to deal with those pesky folks in Indianapolis and talking about cheeseburgers and Google Glasses and when you can or can't Steal signs is just to take a little exit stage, right? You know This is this is a time in the course of Jim Harbaugh's coaching career With the national championship under his belt that if he gets an enticing offer to now go chase that Super Bowl I mean I think that you just kind of hear the way that he has talked with such a reverence About the Super Bowl and the NFL winning in the NFL at the highest levels that I think it makes sense So again, I believe from you know, there is not a real Jim Harbaugh camp all of the reports You're hearing are from the NFL side Yeah But I do think that based on Jim Harbaugh's own actions in each of the last two off-season He will interview people have these conversations and if one NFL team hits everything on his list of demands And I think he's probably off to the National Football League. I do wonder because you mentioned the Chargers.

It's a notoriously cheap organization And I do wonder if Harbaugh if that matters to him because cheap isn't just with like the head coach They would have fired Brandon Staley last year had they been willing to pay a coach not to coach Not that not that they they aren't doing that. Anyway, because I think Staley's got another year left on his contract they've they've had to eat but The Chargers are a notoriously cheap organization. I keep floating this I think Washington is a great spot But I haven't heard anybody agree with me So maybe there's zero interest on the part of Josh Harris, but I think Washington what what about the Chargers? What about on the field you'd be taking Justin Herbert or Shawn Slater a top ten offensive lineman?

You'd be taking on Bosa you'd be taking on Darren James. Oh, they've got the players Yeah, but you also have to keep the players But I think that that's what you'd be That's where I would take San Diego over Washington because I think that the pieces you'd be working with in year one are more advanced Down the line towards playing winning football. I like if it's only about personnel Then the Chargers are the choice. I Mean absolutely the choice if it's about personnel right, I just To me Harbaugh.

It's it probably is about more than personnel, but I don't know I Literally have no clue. I but real real quick I want to wrap up our conversation on Jim Harbaugh because I think that he is on the very short list of elite coaches and If he stayed in college There's no reason why Michigan doesn't become part of the Alabama Georgia I guess to an extent Ohio State of the the teams that are always mentioned as Yep, they can win it. They're good enough. I think Harbaugh is that good Yes, and no the reason why Michigan is never going to be mentioned with Alabama, Georgia Ohio State and that's where I'll cut that list off is because they're not recruiting like them I mentioned at the beginning of this conversation It's more about evaluation and player development and that does speak to the coaching I do think that Michigan has raised its floor such that we do think that you know They could have a down year and that down year might be a nine and three but it is going to be an interesting 2024 Harbaugh or no Harbaugh with a roster that I think is going to lose 11 or 12 players to the NFL draft and again player development player evaluation things that I have complimented here with you they will be put to the test because this is a Ohio State, Georgia and Alabama recruited a different level than anybody else in the country and They're not able to hold on to everybody I mean we see Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State in the port players in the portal every single year But it is at least a higher level of raw talent coming out of high school that makes the bedrock of your program But to to your point, Ohio State, what have they won recently or even in the big picture? So you can you know point to the banners and the trophy case and talk about Ohio State falling short and that is a fair Compliment, but when we do these, you know way too early The reason why Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State is not necessarily just a blind You know throw them up there since they are who they are It has to do with the way that they've been recruiting over a four-year cycle And it's just different than everybody else in the country Michigan is at 53% on the blue chip ratio How many of your recruits over a four-year cycle or four or five stars compared to three stars or lower? Alabama's roster this year was at 90 I'll say again Michigan was at 53 percent of its roster was a blue chip coming out of high school They defeated a team in the Rose Bowl that had 90 Percent of its roster as blue chips coming into the season.

Yeah, that just strengthens my argument that he's an elite coach Chip Patterson joining us here on the Adam Gold Show. So it's the end of the four team era Uh, what are your thoughts on what we saw over the last decade? The playoff itself The playoff itself did not provide a lot of great semi-finals they did this Fantastic, and it did you know the the Rose Bowl between? Georgia and Oklahoma will always stand out as something that was um, you know, really really exciting and General I thought that the semi-finals Usually we're just basically Providing us a championship game that we probably could have guessed or maybe could have picked out to begin with I also think it probably you know set the set the stage for the bracket creep that we have seen Which is the expansion of the college football playoffs? I think it's going to be the most impactful playoff But I will say that the the thing that it's going to be the most impactful moving forward is Not necessarily a major advantage, but something that a lot of coaches learned I think that Georgia learned it Alabama learned it Clemson learned it Those schools that not only were Into the college football playoff but advancing to a national championship Game schedule and that impacted decisions that they were making in week six seven and eight The timeline that you're bringing guys back from injury the ways that you're trying to build out your depth You know, we've got a team here in the triangle in North Carolina that's got a couple of you know late season collapses on their hands to God help that Tario team if they had to play a 14 30 15th game as well, right so Those lessons are going to be even more important as we start to add one I think for sure and then maybe even more games on top of that moving forward in the expanded playoff era So it is going to impact the way that coaches coach and the way that players are managed all throughout the season because We saw some sloppy sloppy football in the college football playoff mm-hmm some players that were just like dragging themselves across the finish line You know, I didn't go to the championship game this year I went to the Sugar Bowl semi-final but I've been to either a semi-final title game or both through Most of the college football playoff era and these guys are just beaten down Yeah, and so it's gonna be a real test for college football for for our expectations as fans for these college football Teams to be sharp and expanded college football playoff It's gonna be a big-time ask and a challenge for these coaches to manage it along the way Yeah, I mean, that's the stuff that we have we have talked about.

It's not just we should compensate these players It's just it's it's also Man, we are asking a ton from 21 year old guys to play Professional length seasons. I realized there's no preseason games, but man Washington won 15 Rather Michigan won 15 games Washington played 15 like there's two more games potentially for some of these teams I mean, I don't know if you saw Dylan Johnson, but Dylan Johnson's entire leg was an advertised bandage by duct tape and he's not the only one You get close to these players at the end of the season You get more access than you ever get because college football coaches are crazy and you just see 20 year olds and 21 year olds that are just Worn down and given everything and yeah, it's inspirational, but it's it is a long punishing college football season and so I'm just I'm just not expecting the sharpest football I think it'll be a lot of I think it'll be like the NBA playoffs, right? So we always say the NBA playoffs are often decided by who's healthier I think that will be the college football playoff result in the expanded era It won't always be the best team from the regular season. It'll be whoever's healthier at the end of the year I mean, I kind of think that's college football in general. It's not necessarily Like the best teams play at a high level most of the time But I think that for the most part it's a lot about managing mistakes in College football and that's that's fair Maybe you could say the same thing about the National Football League, which hasn't really been aesthetically pleasing a lot over the last five six seven weeks of this season did Because your your general assessment ship Patterson is with us as always on a Wednesday Your jet your assessment generally of the college football playoff there I think is accurate that it gave us a lot of blowouts.

There were a lot of non-competitive Semi-final games. Sometimes it was a surprise TCU over Michigan, right? Sometimes it was although that was a competitive game I guess it just was an upset, but we've seen plenty of blowouts, which is why what happened to Florida State Really wrong hollow to me trying to prevent something that is almost impossible to prevent the blowout Did it end on a high note though didn't the wave Like I hate to keep harping on this, but I really felt like They screwed it up at the end, even though they got two very compelling Semi-final games and a relatively come I think a very compelling even though Michigan was clearly better than Washington Championship game.

I thought they screwed it up in the last go-round I don't think in a way that fans I don't think it impacted fans in that way Well, no, it doesn't have to impact fans fans are gonna watch what fans are gonna watch. I think they screwed it up by by ignoring Florida State's bodywork I mean, I we've said for more than a month. That's not the decision I would have made but you know, they won the Michigan won the college football invitational So the voters 61 AP voters just named a national champion.

Well, let's treat it like it's 1971 again, right? That's how we did it in college football, right? I don't I think that what fans think do matter Decisions are being made by television executives right and for a television product then I Kind of think what they were able to sell to a fan How about this what they were able to sell to Missouri fans who were like next year guys? This is a playoff game what they were able to sell to Ole Miss fans next year This is a playoff game people who are close to the playoff and are very much parroting all the talking points They tell me things like an Ole Miss that are a Missouri fan And they don't single them out I'm using them as the example right that that they are not as invested coming down the stretch of the season Because they're not going to make the 14 playoff but that in an expanded playoff era Penn State Missouri They are dialed in Because they are in the realm of competing for a national championship in a way that they haven't before Like is it is it a way to change the way we talk about college football from December 20th to January 20th?

Which by the way is the length of the playoff from the first first-round game to the championship game One month of the college football playoff. Yeah, totally changes the attention the interest in that But the thing that the power brokers have had said to me is that we've started to see Fame bases in the 14 playoff era Really start to check out if they're in that middle ground where they're not making the playoffs They're not sweating the bowl games and they're not firing their coach or anything like that You know those those teams that are right around that like 910 win mark, you know, they they kind of had trouble they lose it a little bit and so Expanded playoff the way that it sold to me is gonna have somebody like a Missouri fan an Ole Miss fan a Penn State fan Even more engaged with the sport because they're gonna be included in the competition for the national championship. Yeah, I think we've just moved the line I'm I understand what you're saying.

I'm not moved at all by that. I think we've just moved the line So we'll have different type different levels of team now not be you know Dialed in to the end and oh by the way It's supposed to be your job as the coach as the coaching staff to keep your your team your fans dialed in But that's that's another matter altogether Do you think well I'll say that I'll think that if you talk about the end of an era Tom and I've been on this Both online and offline that we have been against college football playoff expansion. We have been yes The point I have been I conference by conference realignment, but as we sit here, I Am intrigued I am engaged. I'm curious I'm talking about college football in a different way Than I ever have before that when we talk about college football on a national level when I'm talking about a playoff contender It is a different conversation and when I'm talking about the Big Ten I'm talking about Oregon is a Big Ten title contender.

You know when I'm talking about the SEC I'm trying to figure out where Texas fits and whether they get to go right into the top To the top floor or whether they've got to hang out with Ole Miss You know sitting sitting there not quite in the top floor and it's so different. It will be unrecognizable But as somebody who's tasked with talking about this sport for 12 months a year Now that we've turned the page part of me is a little bit excited just because I don't know what it's gonna look like Yeah, we haven't we have new things to tell it's definitely gonna be new and look college football is a story Every single year and even if you don't love the product, right? And I would put myself in the category of somebody who goes man That ain't great football, but it there is the storylines and the drama And everything that goes into it Creates a level of intrigue that people like me can find appealing again Even if like watching Michael Pennock's miss wide-open receivers, which we see routinely across college football Basically every day every day there are games like I don't want to see that But there is a drama dramatic element to it that I find absolutely awesome So I think we're gonna have a lot of new things to discuss Let me ask you this one question before we say goodbye chip Patterson as always you are the best Do you think we ended you we don't think we ended 12. I don't think we ended 16 I think the final number of this and who knows what the final number will be. I think it's 24 I think we're gonna take a while to get to it But at some point the system isn't gonna look anything like we have today and I think the entirety will be about 24 I Disagree because I think SBS plus is going to cut the number of teams playing for the same competition I think it is more likely that we have two brackets and we have an NIT of sorts for another division 16 I do think Jean Smith the outgoing athletic director at Ohio State at one point in a very casual setting Yeah, I mean 16 right and never there.

Yeah 16. Whoa This is when you're still sitting and I say okay So a lot of people are on this and I hadn't thought about it But I think that an expansion to 16 is something that I do think will happen at some point But I don't think we'll get to 24 because I think that we're we're gonna be in a position where the total Level of teams that are competing at the very very highest level, you know, which right now is 133 I think that that's gonna shrink and then as that shrinks There's not really a reason at that point for further expansion premier league We're gonna have a premier league that's what I think we're gonna have in College football. I don't know and I don't and we will have a I think a larger playoff I I don't think it's gonna be recognizable Chip I appreciate your time as always and we will talk to you next week Sounds good. Y'all be well, it's chip Patterson here on the Adam Gold Show The reason why I don't believe we're gonna stop at 12 or 16 is because ultimately the entirety of the college football Season is going to be about the postseason Everything else is gonna be yeah, people are gonna watch because that's what they do But the real money The real money not the hey five million people watched The real money is gonna be in the playoffs See how many people watched The was it the the last edit was it the bills and the dolphins like 35. I don't have any The NFL is the only entity that sees I mean massive rises in ratings tons, right? The average NFL game which includes Panthers Saints on a random Sunday afternoon The average NFL game drew like seventeen and a half million people We don't get that for World Series game seven now College football is the number two sport on TV Because of that and Because every the networks all know who's watching and how many people are watching Yeah, we're gonna get as many playoff games as we can cram in. I think the number ends at 24 Yeah, I know the Pop-Tart Bowl had four point three one million Yep, so that was the largest audience of the bowl season at that point Oh when you when you have an edible mascot I mean, yeah, come on and he was dancing around end of discussion cheese. It doesn't want to have any part of it Nope, Duke's Mayo not either. I mean they're trying Well, Levis will be always rooting for the Duke's man But the Pop-Tart Bowl win the Mayo poor Yeah, we got it we can't do that, all right, we're gonna oh my god even know what to do now